Marking machine



May 30, 1939. N. v. DYER MARKING MACHINE Filed July 6, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 xii ' y 0 93 N.V.DY'ER 2,160,063

MARKING MACHINE Filed July 6, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 30, 1939.

N. V. DYER MARKING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet s Filed July 6, 1936 P N. V. DYER MARKING MACHINE May 30, 1939.

Filed July 6, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented May 30, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MARKING MACHINE Application July 6, 1936, Serial No. 89,165

22 Claims.

This invention relates to marking machines and is illustrated herein as embodied in a machine of the type disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States No. 1,172,897, granted February 22, 1916, in the name of F. W. Merrick.

For the purpose of identifying articles such as shoe parts, for example, during or after their manufacture, it is often desirable to mark them with several rows of characters. Owing to the great variety of styles and sizes of shoes which are usually identified by the characters in one row of the mark, such characters must be readily changeable for convenience in manufacture. To this end, marking machines have commonly been provided with type members mounted or formed upon endless carriers adapted to be moved to bring a selected type member into operative position; but such a construction gives rise to the difficulty of obtaining perfect alinement of the selected type members of the different carriers, which is desirable for the sake of the appearance of the mark and which is necessary to avoid interference between the selected type members in question and other auxiliary members closely adjacent thereto which are employed to make other ,useful characters in the mark.

In View of the foregoing, an object of the invention is to make provision for facilitating the resetting of type members of machines of the sort referred to above and to insure greater accuracy in locating in operative position the type member or members selected to make a mark.

This object is attained, in the illustrated machine, by the use of articulated rigid type members arranged in the form of a chain looped about spaced supports, one of the supports having positioning edges or surfaces adapted to be enveloped by different type members, including the selected type member, whereby the selected 40 member is located and positively held in its operative position as a result of moving the chain into engagement with the positioning edges or surfaces.

Although the invention may have application to marking machines employing, with or without heat, a suitable marking medium such as ink or a composition including metallic powders, it is disclosed herein with reference to a machine adapted to make a branded mark by the use of heated type members only, the selected type members being heated by the support which is arranged to support them against marking pressure. Since some type members remain in their operative positions for a considerable length of time while others are reset more frequently in order to change the mark, it is apparent that uniformity in the different characters of the mark depends to a great extent upon the rapid heating of the frequently changed type members and uniformity in the temperature of all the type members selected to make a mark. Moreover, in shoe manufacture, a group of shoe parts of different sizes are usually stacked or placed in order so that changes in their marking require merely the step-by-step movement of one chain of type members arranged progressively in accordance with the order of their characters. In order to obviate delay in bringing a newly selected type member to the proper temperature, the heated support for the selected type members is arranged, as another feature of the invention, to be engaged also by the succeeding type member so that the latter will have been heated to the desired temperature by the time that it is moved into the operative position. Since a type plate is usually provided, in order to get several rows of characters, separate heating units are provided for the movable type plate thereby making it easy to heat these characters to the same temperature as those on the type chains.

The invention also contemplates the provision in the type members of heat conductors having relatively high heat conductivity and adapted to transmit heat rapidly from the heating means to the type faces of the members.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings and will be pointed out-in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of an illustrative machine embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a view in front elevation of the marking head of the machine illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of the marking head, the section being taken along the line IIIIII in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a view in side elevation of the marking head, certain parts being broken away;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view illustrating the locating of a type member in operative position;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 illustrating in perspective an alternative form of type member;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view of a part of the resetting mechanism; and

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the work piece having a mark of the type which the illustrated machine is adapted to make.

"The illustrated machine comprises a marking "2d by connections of the type disclosed in the Merrick patent mentioned above to which reference may be made for a more detailed description of the mechanism of the illustrated machine just described.

Since it is often desirable to be able to identify a work-piece, such as a shoe part for example, in several respects, the illustrated marking head H3 is arranged to make a mark, as illustrated in Fig. 8 for example, having four rows of characters, it being understood that the machine is adapted for making a mark having less or even more rows of characters if desired. This mark ordinarily comprises a customers number 25, a legend 23,

and a case number each of which is changed at relatively long intervals so that the ease with which they may be changed is of minor importance. The mark also comprises a match mark 32 and a size mark 3% both of which must be changed frequently, at least when operating upon shoe parts, a case lot of which in ordinary shoe-making practice may include a great vari ty of sizes. The legend 28 and the customers number 26 are made by type members 36, 38 (Fig. 3) releasably mounted in a well-known manner in plates db and :32, respectively, dovetailed to a supporting member The plates id and 32, when assembled on the member 44, are locked in th ir operative positions by keys 4% the lower ends of which are adapted to enter grooves in the plates. The type members 36, 38, when thus positioned on the member Ml, are spaced sufficiently to permit the movement ther between'of a row of type members ll (Figs. 5 and 3) having type-carrying projections 58 and adapted to be selected to make the desired marks 39, 32 and The member i t is fixed to the lower ends of rods L9 mounted to slide vertically, for a purpose which will appear hereinafter, in guides 55 fixed to the sides of a U-shaped bracket 5! (Fig. 2) mounted on the carrier 14.

The projections 18 extend perpendicularly from the mid-portions of bases 52 (Fig. 5) the ends of which are pivoted together by pins 53, each selected type member ll therefore being one of a chain of articulated type members having different characters thereon. Successive type members of each chain are provided with characters arranged in the sequence of their numerical or alphabetical order so that in operating upon a group of work-pieces arranged in the order of their sizes, as is customary in shoe manufacture, resetting of the chains is accomplished by a stepby-step movement. In order to indicate to the operator the character on the type member in operative position, each type member has its character formed on the surface of the projection $3 which faces forwardly of the machine when in operative position, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 5. The chains of the type members ll (Fig. 3) at their lower ends are looped in extended rclation' about a support which is fixed between the lower ends of the bracket 5i; and at their upper ends the type chains are looped about polygonal sprockets 55 individually rotatable on a shaft 55 the ends of which extend through vertical slots 58 in the sides of the bracket 5 i. The shaft 55 is supported at its ends by links 3i? (Fig. l) pivoted to a yoke 62 rotatably mounted at t l on lugs 56 extending forwardly of the machine from the sides of the bracket 55. The type chains are normally held taut by a spring fixed at its upper end to the carrier i l and at its lower end to a rod it) on the yoke 52, the spring 68 thus tending to elevate the yoke $2 and hence the shaft 55. As a result of yieldingly urging the type chains upwardly in the manner described above, the lowermost selected type members a? are located in their operative positions and are alined with each other, as will now be described.

The support 5% has a seat 12 (Figs. 3 and 5) adapted to support the bases 52 of the type members ll and of such width as completely to fill the space between the bases of the alternate type members i? at each side of the selected type member. Thus, one or both sides of the support 54! cooperate with alternate type members ll in each chain to cause all of the selected type members to be alined accurately with each other laterally of the marking head ill from front to back. In order to provide uniform spacing between the selected type members l? the type chains are separated at the support by thin washers M (Fig. 3) mounted on the support 54;

and similar spacing of the type chains at their upper ends is afforded by thin gears l5 (Fig. l) one of which is fixed to each of the sprockets 55 to facilitate the resetting of a type chain, as will now be described.

Preparatory to moving a selected type member ll into operative position, the yoke 62 is swung downwardly against the tension of the spring 68 by a lever 58 mounted on a shaft 79 pivoted between the frame members 29 and arranged to be operated by a treadle-operated rod 89 which is connected to the end of a lever Bl fixed to the shaft '39. Lowering of the yoke (52 causes a corresponding lowering of the shaft 58 and hence the type chains to permit them to be moved without interference with the lower corners of the sup; port 5%.

Resetting of the extreme right-hand type chain 35 (Fig. 2), which is used to mark the unit digit of the match mark 32 and which therefore is frequently changed, is effected by rotating a gear 82 (Fig. 7) meshing with the gear 78 associated with the type chain 8 l the gear 82 being threaded on a shaft St to the end of which is attached a knob 85.

A spacing member 38 surrounding the shaft 84 and extending between the gear 82 and the knob 86 is rotatably mounted in a bushing 99 fixed in the right-hand side of a yoke member Eli (Fig. l) mounted on the bracket 5!. Another bushing 2 coaxial with the bushing 9i) and fixed in the left-hand side of the member 9! rotatably supports a tube t l carrying a gear arranged to mesh with a gear l5 associated with a type chain 98 (Fig. 2) having half-size characters on its mark 32 and all of the digits of the case number 30 are made by selected type members of those chains between the chains 8| and 98 and are set by means comprising gears I88 (Figs. '7 and 2) rotatably mounted on a sleeve H8 into the ends of which extend pintles I I2 on the adjacent ends of the shafts 84 and I85. Each of the gears I88 meshes with one of the gears 76 and is operated by one of a series of gears H4 (Fig. 3) rotatably mounted on a shaft H5 supported on lugs IIE (Fig. 4) extending upwardly from the yoke member 9i. Washers H8 of larger diameter than the gears 14 are arranged both to separate the gears l I4 and also to prevent any interference between the various gears 82. The washers H8 with the teeth of the gears H4 also form pockets into which the operator may easily insert a pointed instrument to rotate the gears II4 when it is desired to reset a type chain.

When the marking head II] is in its uppermost position as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4, the member 44 is held away from the type chains so that even though they may be lowered somewhat to permit their movement under the support 54, they will not strike the member 4A. To this end, bars l28 fixed by means of bolts E22 to the frame members 28 and extending forwardly of the machine are provided with adjustable stop screws 24 arranged to engage plates I26 clamped by nuts E2? to the upper ends of the rods 49 in order to limit the upward movement of the member :34 in such a position as to provide adequate clearance between the member 48 and the type chains when lowered. When the marking head i0 is lowered, springs i228, surrounding the rods 49 and abutting the guides 58 and collars I38 integral with the rods 48, hold the member 44 in its uppermost position until the bases 52 of the type members 4? engage the upper surface of the member 44. Thereafter the member 44 is carried downwardly with the type chains, the type of the members Lil, 3S and 38 then being in the same plane, and the members 41 thus supporting the member 44 against the marking pressure and the force of the springs I28.

The illustrated machine is particularly suited to the use of heated type members which, when pressed against a work-piece, make a branded mark; but it is to be understood that the various features of the invention are none the less applicable to machines employing other marking media such as ink, for example. Heating of the type members 47 is effected partly by an electric resistance unit E32 (Fig. 3) housed in the support 54 from which heat is transferred by radiation and conduction to the bases 52 of the type members 4? and thence to their type faces. The transfer of heat to the type faces of the members 4i is furthered by conductors I34 of copper or other material having a high degree of conductivity and extending from the inner surfaces of the members 41 to their type faces.

Were the unit I32 alone depended on to heat the auxiliary type members 88 and 38, the equalization of their temperatures with that of the type members 4? would be difficult, especially in view of the fact that the carrier 44 is only in contact with the members 4? for a small part of each cycle. Accordingly, the type members 36 and 38 are also heated chiefly by flat coil electric units l35 and I38, respectively, mounted in recesses in the member 44 and movable therewith. The members 88 and 38 are provided with heat conductors 348 similar to the conductor I34.

Further insurance of even heating of the selected members 41, 38 and 38 is afforded by a mutual interchange of heat between them throughout the period when the bases of the members 47 are in engagement with the members 44. the adjacent sides of the members 38, 38 to the projections 48 of the type members is conducive to an effective interchange of heat between portions of these members extending from their abutting surfaces to their type faces. Thus a uniform temperature is obtained at the type faces of all the type members whereby branded characters are impressed uniformly upon a workpiece although it is engaged substantially instantaneously by the marking head.

As the marking head II] might be damaged if the machine were operated before the resetting of one or more of the type chains is completed, mechanism is provided in the illustrated machine for preventing it from being treadled until the yoke 82 has been moved to its uppermost position and the selected type members are alined in their operative positions. Whenever the rod 88 is lowered to permit the type chains to be reset, a hooked arm I42 (Fig. 4) fixed to the left-hand end of the shaft I9 is swung under a starting lever I44 which corresponds to the lever 89 in the above-mentioned Merrick patent and is thus prevented from being operated to start the machine. The lever l44 is connected to a treadle (not shown) by a treadle rod I46.

An alternative form of type chain illustrated in Fig. 6 comprises type members I48 having bases I58 the ends of which are pivotally connected by pins I52 and type-carrying projections I54 extending obliquely from one extremity of the bases. When in their operative positions, the projections I54 of the selected members I48 extend vertically downward and are thus positioned in lateral alinement with each other by the engagement of the bases I58 of the selected members I48 and those members I48 adjacent to the selected members with converging sides I58 of a support I58 which may be substituted for the support 50'.

Although the operation of the illustrated machine will be understood from the foregoing description it will now be briefly summarized. The type members 41 are first selected with reference to the mark which it is desired to make on a work piece which is placed on the support I2. This is done by first lowering the treadle rod 88 to cause the type chains to hang loosely below the support 54 and then by manipulating the knobs 88, I88 and I84 to bring selected type members 41 of the chains reset byoperating these knobs into theoperative position. The type chains not controlled by the knobs referred to are similarly reset by turning the gears I 4 with the help of a pointed instrument. After the type members 36 and 38 in the auxiliary type plates 48 and 42, respectively, have also been selected and all of the type members have been heated to a sufficiently high temperature to sear or burn the work piece which is to be marked the operation of the machine may be commenced. A work piece having been placed in the proper position on the support I2, the machine is treadled, to cause the marking head I8 to move into engagement with the work and immediately back again to the starting position as illustrated in Fig. 1. During the first part of the movement of the marking head I0 downwardly the auxiliary type plates 48 and 42 remain stationary, the

At such times also the proximity of plates I26 at this time being held in engagement with the stop screws its? by the springs i223. During this time the portion of the marking head It! which carries the type chains moves downwardly, the type projections is being moved into the space between the type members 3-3 and 38 until all the type faces of these members are substantially in the same plane and the lower surfaces of the bases 52 of the type members abut the upper surfaces of the member 4d. Thereafter the member and the members and 33 partake of the movement of the marking head toward and away from the support l2 until doing the retractiye movement of the marking head the plates again engage the stop screws [2 3. During a substantial portion of the movement of the marking head it before and after it is moved into the marking position, in engagement with the work. piece, a mutual interchange of heat takes place between the member the type members 33, and the type members ll owing to the engagement of the bases 52 of the type members it with the member and the proximity of the projections id of the type members ll to the adjacent type members and As pointed out above, the tra of. heat to type faces of all the type members is furthered the provision of heat c nductors E36 and which are made of material having high heat conductivity, such as copper, for example, and which extend substantially to the type faces on the type members.

When, after operation of the machine, it is desired to change the mark, the treadle rod 88 is depressed, thereby causing the yoke 52 to swung downwardly and he shaft 56 to be lowered so that the type chains hang loosely below support 5% but not engaging the member The setting of any chain is thereupon eiiectcd by rotating its c rresponding sprocket 55 to move the chain in question until the next selected type member is disposed directly beneath the support In the ordinary use of the machine the is changed by successi'e digits which requires merely a step-by-step movement or the chains. In such a case accordingly, a type member succeeding that in the operative position will have been heated to the desired temperature by engagement with side of suppor contiguous its seat which supports the selected type members against marking pressure. It is apparent, therefore, that so long as the type members are brought successively into the operative position there is no delay whatever in the operation of the machine so far as the heating of the type members is concerned.

When the trcadle rod is released the yoke 52 swung upwardly under the influence of the springs (38, and the base oi. the selected type member of each chain and the type members adjacent to the selected type member cooperate with the seat of the support 5 1 and its edges positively to locate the selected type member in its operative position. will now be apparent that, owing to the positioning of each of the selected type members of each type cho all of the selected type members will be aline -ccu rately with respect to each other lateral! of the marking head, thus insuring a mark 0' appearance and obviating any likelihood o terference between the selected members and the type members 53$,

Whenever the treadle rod is depressed to permit resetting of the type chains the arm it? is swung under the end of the starting lever its, and thereby prevents damage to the marking head which might result from accidentally treadling the machine before the resetting of a chain or chains has been completed.

Having described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a marking machine, a chain of rigid articulated type members, resetting means therefor, a support having a seat adapted to be enveloped by a plurality of type members looped about said support, means acting upon said resetting means to tension said chain whereby a selected type member is held in operative position against said seat, and means for releasing the tension on the chain whereby the chain may be adjusted to move a different type member into operative position.

2. In a marking machine, a marking head comprising a plurality of type members, a support about which said members are looped and having a seat adapted to support a selected member against marking pressure, said members having pivotally connected bases extending around the sides of the supporting portion of said seat when in engagement therewith, and means for holding said members firmly against the seat.

3.111 a marking machine, a mar ring head comprising a plurality of articulated type members, plural supporting r. eans about which said type members are looped in extended relation, one of said means having surfaces converging approximately in a V and arranged to cooperate with a pair of successive type members to locate one of said pair of type members in operative position, and means for urging said supporting n'zeans apart thereby to hold the selected member against one of the converging surfaces.

i. In a marking machine, a plurality of type members having type faces, and means for heating said members arranged to support them against marking pressure, said members having therein heat conductors adapted to transmit heat from said heating means to said type faces.

5. In a marking machine, a chain of articulated type members, a heated support about which said chain is looped and adapted to support a selected type member against marking pressure, and auxiliary type members mounted in juxtaposition to said selected type member whereby an interchange of heat between said selected and auxiliary members is effected.

6. In a marking machine, a marking head comprising a plurality of type members each having a base and a projection carrying type, means for heating said members constructed and arranged to support their bases against marking pressure, heat conductors disposed in said projections for transmitting heat from said heating means to the type on said projections, and auxiliary type members spaced to receive said projections, the bases and projections of said firstmentioned type members being arranged to cooperate with the adjacent sides of the auxiliary members to effect a mutual transfer of heat therebetween.

7. In a marking machine, a marking head mounted for movement between a marking and a retracted position, said head comprising a chain of articulated type members, a support about which said chain is looped, means for resetting said chain to bring a selected type member into engagement with said support, an auxiliary type member disposed in juxtaposition to said selected member, and means for arresting the movement of said auxiliary type member before saidhead is moved to its retracted position whereby it is separated from said selected member.

8. In a marking machine, a marking head mounted for movement between a marking and retracted position, said head comprising a selected type member and an auxiliary type member adjacent thereto, said selected member having a surface arranged to support said auxiliary member against marking pressure, means for yieldingly holding said auxiliary member against said selected member whereby their type faces are disposed in the same plane, and means for arresting the retractive movement of said auxiliary member whereby the said type members are separated from each other as said head is moved into its retracted position.

9. In a marking machine, a plurality of articulated rigid type members, and a relatively fixed polygonal heated support about which said members are looped, said member having heat-emitting surfaces arranged to be enveloped by successive type members one of which is the type member selected to make a mark whereby said successive type members are maintained at substantially the same temperature.

10. In a marking machine, a marking head comprising a chain of articulated type members, resetting means and a support about which said chain is normally looped under tension to hold a selected type member in operative position, means for operating said marking head, operator-controlled means for causing relative approach of said resetting means and said support whereby resetting movement of said chain is permitted, and means actuated by the operation of said operator-controlled means for preventing the operation of said marking head to mark a work-piece.

11. In a marking machine, a marking head comprising a chain of articulated links carrying type, resetting means, and a heated support fixed in said head and about which said chains are looped, said support having a plurality of intersecting heat-emitting plane surfaces coacting with a plurality of links positively to locate a selected link in operative position and adapted to heat the selected link and one adjacent thereto simultaneously.

12. In a marking machine, a chain some of the links of which are provided with marking characters, supporting means against which the chain rests when making an impression, a work support, means for causing relative movement between the chain support and the work support to mark the work, means for setting said chain, and means for tensioning said chain, said chain support and said chain cooperating to locate a character in operative position.

13. In a marking machine, a chain comprising rigid articulated links some of which are provided with type pieces, and a plurality of supports about which said chain is looped, said supports being mounted for movement relative to one another to tension the chain, one of said supports acting to support the chain as an impression is made, said support being provided with a plurality of surfaces coacting with a plurality of links in the chain positively to locate a type piece in operative position.

14. In a marking machine, a marking head provided with a plurality of type carriers, a type plate having interchangeable type members, relatively movable supports for said type carriers and said type plate constructed and arranged for separation to permit a selective movement of the type carriers, means for heating a row of type on said carriers, and means movable with said typeplate support for heating the type members on the type plate.

15. In a marking machine, a type head having a plurality of type carriers provided with elongated type carrying projections, a plate having interchangeable type members spaced to receive a selected row of projections-a support for said type plate movable toward and away from the type carriers and adapted in one position to bring the types on the projections flush with those on the type plate, and separate heating means for said support and for said type carriers.

16. In a marking machine, a marking head comprising a support, a plurality of type carriers surrounding said support, a heater for said carriers, an auxiliary support recessed to receive a row of type members on the carriers and movable away from said type members to permit a selective movement thereof, a type plate mounted on said movable auxiliary support, removable type members carried on said type plate, and fiat heating coils on said auxiliary support in conductive relation to said removable type members.

17. In a marking machine, a marking head provided with a type carrier, a type plate having interchangeable type members, relatively movable supports for said type carrier and said type plate constructed and arranged for separation to permit movement of the type carrier, means for heating selected type on the carrier, and means movable with said type-plate support for heating the type members on the type plate.

18. In a marking machine, a marking head provided with a plurality of type carriers, auxiliary type members adjacent to said type carriers, supports for said type carriers and said auxiliary type members, means for moving said supports relatively to one another to permit a selective movement of the type carriers, and means movable with the support for the auxiliary type members for heating those members.

19. In a marking machine, a marking head provided with a plurality of type carriers, a support for said type carriers, auxiliary type pieces adjacent to and in co-operative relation with said type carriers, a member for supporting said auxiliary type pieces, means for moving said member and said support relatively to one another to permit adjustment of the type, and separate means associated with the support and with the supporting member for heating the type carriers and the auxiliary type pieces respectively.

20. In a marking machine adapted for plural line marking, wherein at least one of the plural lines of marking is composed of auxiliary type pieces, a marking head comprising a type carrier support and an auxiliary type support spaced from one another and arranged to hold type elements in heat transfer relation to one another, a separate type heating means for each of said supports, the separate type heating means and the interchange of heat between the adjacent type elements insuring the even heating of all the elements, a platen, and operating means for relatively moving the marking head and platen to press the plural lines of marking simultaneously into engagement with work on the platen.

21. In a marking machine, a marking head comprising a plurality of articulated type members, said type members comprising a base and a marking character positioned at an angle to the base, resetting means, and a support about which said members are looped, said support having 10 another, one of said supports having a seat adapted to support a selected type member against marking pressure, means for heating the support which supports the selected type member against marking pressure, a chain of rigid articulated type members looped about said supports, and means for moving said supports relatively to one another to produce slack in said type chain and thereby facilitate the adjustment of said type chain.

NEWELL V. DYER. 

